


Office Christmas Party

by out_of_nowhere



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-18 00:20:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16984563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/out_of_nowhere/pseuds/out_of_nowhere
Summary: Every year the grumps do something fun for the holidays. This year Arin decides to have an office Christmas party and feature it on the 10 mph. But how will things change when he and Dan end up kissing under the mistletoe?





	1. Prologue

Dan loved Christmas. No, he wasn't Christian, and honestly he only did the bare minimum Jewish holiday observances because it made his parents happy, but that didn't stop him from loving Christmas. The music was catchy, people were actually nice to each other, and now that he didn't have to shovel snow like he did as a kid in Jersey, there just wasn't much for him to dislike about the holiday season. Plus, the grumps also did fun holiday activities. One year they got together at Arin and Suzy's house and made cake pops. Another they made a holiday special that was technically a commercial for grump merch, but neither the grumps nor their fans really saw it that way. This year they were having an office Christmas party. Usually, he might consider something like an office party lame, but with Arin at the helm, he knew it would be a blast. Especially since it was going to be featured in the 10 mph on Christmas eve. Dan couldn't wait.


	2. Building houses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This week on the 10mph...

Buut, the party wasn't for another week. Today they had a different power hour to film. And since Hanna and Arin liked to keep power hour activities a secret from him, he had no idea what was planned for today, other than it was probably Christmas or holiday related. 

As he walked into the office, he noticed everyone at their usual stations. "Hey, everyone!" he called, as he made his way to his desk. "The talent is here, so let's make some magic!" He flashed his trademark grin around the room before sitting down. 

"Dan?" Arin called from his office. 

"Yup?"

"Power hour recording in 10."

"It's a date!" Dan called back to Arin and smiled to himself as he logged in to his computer to check his emails real quick. Dan loved their easy, flirtatious bantering. 

"You bet your sweet ass it's a date," Arin said, mostly to himself, since he responded in a normal conversational tone and not necessarily loud enough for people outside of his office to hear.

**********************************

"Dan, do you know what we're doing today?" Arin asked with a smirk.

Dan pushed a lock of hair out of his eye and responded, "Well, since no one ever tells me anything, I'm gonna have to say no." He tried to sound despondent for always being left out of the planning, but his laugh and the twinkle in his eyes kinda gave that up as a farce. 

"Wellllll, Dan..." Arin paused as a box came barreling towards them and slid across the table. "TODAY WE'RE MAKING GINGERBREAD HOUSES!" he all but screamed maniacally into the camera. 

"Yissssss!" Dan laughed hysterically. Partially because making gingerbread houses sounded like fun, and partially because Arin being manic just always made him laugh. He watched Arin fondly as the other man ripped into the box, gingerbread, candy, and frosting going everywhere. At least right now everything was still in their individual packages, more or less. 

***********************************

Arin was in tears and his face hurt from laughing by the time they were done. Arin's "house" was a hot mess and Dan had tried to finagle the gingerbread into a dinosaur, but with only limited success. 

As Arin survey the mess they had made, and silently apologized to Letty for the frosting in the carpet, he thought again about how filming the power hour was always his favorite part of the week. He loved all his time spent with Dan, his absolute best friend, but the power hour was always special. Dan was always touchy feely by nature, but Arin got a special tingle when he did it on camera. Arin knew the fans shipped them together, and even though their relationship hadn't really gone in that direction, he liked teasing the fans and pretending that maybe off camera more was going on than what initially met the eye. Dan being physically demonstrative, even on a friendship level, made it easy to project the illusion of something more. And Arin loved it. 

"Ok, let's get the bulk of this mess cleaned up and go grab lunch." Arin was hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope they make gingerbread houses tomorrow, so that's why I wrote it in lol.
> 
> Also, I would still love a beta if anyone is interested.


	3. Weekend recording

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Arin are spending the weekend alone to record.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note, Suzy is just a friend/employee in this work. 
> 
> This chapter is a lot longer. I'm horrible at judging when I should end chapters, though, so length will probably not be consistent...

Arin, Dan, Suzy, and Ross had decided on pho for lunch. After they ordered and were sitting down with their food, Arin took immediate control of the conversation. "Ok, we have a lot to get done over the next week before we start our break for the holidays. Dan, I know you have NSP stuff you're doing Monday, but this weekend we need to get 10-12 hours of useable episodes. We've finished all the jingle grump episodes, but I don't want the holiday break to get us too far behind on recording." Dan nodded as he slurped up a noodle. "Then, when you're back on Tuesday," Arin continued, "we need to do a bunch of short clips and pictures for social media for the week of Christmas. Wednesday night is the office holiday party and filming for the Christmas eve power hour special. Thursday will be the social media new year's filming, and Friday we'll do the new year's eve power hour special. It's going to be a long week, boys and girl."

"Yeah, but then I don't have to see any of your ugly faces for almost two weeks," Ross smirked. 

"That's right. And unfortunately we'll be missing out on your daily dose of sunshine," Suzy retorted, rolling her eyes and smiling back. "So, Arin," she said, turning to him, "it sounds like you won't really need me back in the office until Tuesday?" Suzy was the grumps social media coordinator and she already had the coming weekend's posts finished and set to publish, and if the boys were just going to be recording grump episodes, there wouldn't be much for her to do, but she always liked to double check with Arin. 

"Yep, you're good, Suze," Arin assured her. "And Ross, since you always works on your own schedule regardless of what I want..." Arin trailed off, looking at Ross with a teasing glare, who responded with an impish grin and shrug, "so really it's just you and me alone all weekend, Dan." 

Arin really enjoyed when he and Dan had the office to themselves while doing grump episodes. Not that anyone bothered them during the physical recording, but they seemed to be able to get into a slightly different headspace when there was no one else to talk to during breaks between episodes. It was like they were in their own little bubble. As much as Arin enjoyed the feeling, he tried not to dwell too much on why. Dan was his best friend and he was perfectly happy with their relationship. Even if he did wake up on occasion covered in sweat and his heart racing from a dream about dark brown eyes you could fall into and lips always begging to be nipped. But Arin didn't have time to think about that right now. There was way too much to do this week. 

"Sounds good, bud," Dan replied. "We haven't had any 'alone time' in a while." He winked at Arin and laughed. Dan considered himself lucky to have Arin in his life. The least of the reasons being leap his career had made after the exposure Arin had been able to give him. No, Dan was most grateful for Arin just as a person. He's was 100% Dan's best friend. Their friendship had outlasted a number of both Dan and Arin's romantic relationships. Neither of them seemed to do well on the dating scene. But that was ok because they had each other and Dan got as much pleasure friendly flirting with Arin as he did from any of his short-lived girlfriends. He made a quick mental note to do something special for Arin this weekend. Dan had been so busy lately touring and wrapping up the latest NSP *and* Starbomb album, he hadn't really taken the time to remind Arin how much he appreciated him.

"Alright, so let's take the rest of today off, and I'll see you bright and early, Dan. 9 o'clock?" Well, 9am was early for Dan. 

***********************************

Dan was pretty sure Arin was on a diet again. For the life of him, he didn't know why. He was a perfectly attractive man, in Dan's opinion. But Dan was a supportive friend, so he brought egg frittata with bacon and spinach for them to have for breakfast. 

"Ar bear!" he called, as he opened up the main office door. "Room service is here!"

Arin stepped out of the bathroom. "What's that about servicing me?" 

Dan laughed, "that will have to be later. Right now I'm talking about food." He raised his hand and shook the bag gently. 

Arin's eyes lit up and he ran towards Dan. "Even better! I overslept and skipped breakfast this morning. My stomach is so happy, I could kiss you!" And indeed he did plant a wet, sloppy smooch on Dan's cheek. 

"Oh my God, Arin!" Dan laughed and wiped his face with his arm. "How is your mouth always perpetually wet? It's so gross." He wrinkled his nose up in mock disgust, but that only lasted a moment before he bust out laughing again. 

Arin grabbed the bag from Dan's hand. "Whatever, you're just jealous. Now let's eat and get down to business, Mr. Business." Dan couldn't help laughing once again as he followed Arin into the kitchen. 

***********************************

The morning had gone well. Arin had grumped, Dan had not so grumped. They had ordered turkey subs from the sandwich shop Tucker had made Dan try a couple weeks ago. All was going well until they tried to pick up where they left off after lunch. The memory card they were recording on was full and Arin couldn't find any new ones, even though he was awfully certain he had just ordered a bunch of new cards a couple weeks ago. 

"God damn, mother sandwich biscuit fucker," Arin mumbled to himself as he came back into the recording room after searching his office and every other place they were *supposed* to be stored.

Dan got up from the couch, walked over to behind Arin, who was bent over looking through drawers in the desk next to the harddrive, and placed his hand on Arin's back. "Hey, big cat. It's ok," he assured Arin, gently rubbing circles on his back. "Come sit down," Dan guided Arin towards the couch when he stood and let out an exasperated sigh. "We can just Amazon Now a new card for this weekend, and Monday you can figure out what happened to the others or order more, or whatever you need to do." 

Arin had sat back down and Dan was positioned behind him, now gently rubbing his shoulders and trying to get him to relax. 

"I know," Arin said, leaning back into Dan's touch. "I'm just frustrated because I KNOW I just bought new cards. But I know, I know, just relax and we'll survive the moment." 

Dan chuckled and dropped a kiss on Arin's head, enjoying, as always, the sensation of Arin's silky hair against his lips and the smell of Arin's shampoo in his nostrils. "Stay here, big cat. I'll go order some memory cards, they'll be here in 30 minutes, and we'll be back in business."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you, thank you to SakiCJSakura for making me, and this, better!

It was Monday morning, and Arin was sitting in his office going over his list for the week. The rest of the weekend, after the memory card fiasco, had gone well. He and Dan had fed off each other the best they had in months. Not that they hadn't been meshing well, it had just been nice to be alone and get in that special zone — the kind where Arin didn’t have to think about the show to pull jokes but just be there being goofy with his best bro. Arin smiled to himself. He and Dan were always so busy it seemed, With NSP’s success hitting the top and Starbomb coming around the corner the two were constantly moving in and out the office. They would see each other around the office, record GameGrumps, and on the days he and Dan didn’t see each other they'd make it a point to text. However, they rarely ever got the chance to just hang out>. This weekend had felt more like that, and Arin felt refreshed because of it. Nothing super out of the ordinary had happened, Dan was just so energizing to be around. He challenged Arin to be nimble-minded and quick-witted like no one else could. That, coupled with the smooth, lingering touches. The hand on Arin's back as they decided what games to play, fingers brushing Arin's thigh as Dan rolled around on the couch in a fit of laughter, the total weight of Dan as he was body slammed into a hug after finally beating an especially frustrating level. Arin could still smell Dan's cologne, sandalwood, and cinnamon, in his nose and the singer’s hair brushing his cheek. His curly brown locks are just bouncing about. Framing his long face just right, showing off that great smile of his.

 

Arin shook his head slightly and looked back on the list. Ok, the office party Wednesday. Tomorrow they were decorating the office holiday tree, and Arin planned to tweet a few pictures and have the lovelies tweet back their guesses on how many ornaments they thought were on the tree. Three random people with the correct answer would get free grumps merch. There would also be a photo booth with holiday props for everyone to use and those pictures would also be great social media fodder. He made a mental note to ask Suzy if she had found enough of an assortment of props. He wanted actual Santa hats and beards, real elf ear molds, and the like. Not just the lame paper cutouts. There would also be Jingle Bell Toss, beer pong but without the alcohol and with bells instead of ping-pong balls. Arin hoped everyone would play along with the holiday version of Who Am I? Everyone will be given a name taped to his or her forehead, and other players will have to answer Yes or No questions until the questioner figured out who they were. Arin kinda hoped Dan got someone like Krampus. He cracked a smile again thinking about how creeped out Dan would get when he figured out whom he was supposed to be. He was such a sweet guy, even as part of a game he would be bummed to find out he was a bad guy. Arin found it endearing how his best friend would get sulky and pout his lips. Those oh so perfect lips. Not too thick, not too thin, just perfect. Now they’re a bit covered by his beard but that’s also fine, it adds more to his mature side.

 

Arin found himself remembering when Dan still made an effort to shave off the stubble at the start of The rebranding of Game Grumps the first time around. God, They were so busy.

 

"Hey, man," Dan had said, wrapping himself with a blanket.

 

"What's up?" Arin asked as he plopped on his couch next to Dan.

It had been about this time of year; a couple of weeks or so before Christmas. They were still recording in Arin's apartment back then, so even the days spent just hanging out were spent on the grump couch. 

 

"Well, I just... we're friends now, right?" Dan had been so nervous that day. 

 

"You're kidding, right?" When he looked at Arin with uncertainty in his eyes, Arin reached over and put his arm around the other man's shoulder. "Ok, then. I'm calling it. You're my best friend. I mean, who else's dick would I suck without a moment's notice?" Arin laughed and winked at him.

 

Dan swallowed hard. "Well, that's good, I suppose, but... Don't get me wrong, I love our friendship and banter a..and everything. Heck, I’m cool about the "I want you in my ass" jokes." He staggered for a second.

 

"But..." prompted Arin, trying to encourage more. 

 

"I feel stupid even saying anything," Dan muttered and stared at his feet. "Just, sometimes we get on a roll, and our words or touches get pretty sexual," he was rushing his words now. "And I'm totally cool with it, doesn't bother me at all. I just wanted to be clear on some things. I don’t think that, the things we do, will never be more than that. I'm not...sexually attracted to you. Even though I love the teasing, I don't want more. I haven't been clear in the past and...it's ended friendships. I don't want to lose you, too. We have a good thing going, and I don’t want to lose that."

 

Arin had been surprised but tried not to show any outward signs of it. The gamer cleared his throat, "It's ok, dude. You're not even really my type." Which was technically true, although he was pretty sure he'd have made an exception for Dan, but we would put that away for another day.

 

So after a long talk, and some help from Arin with terminology, it was decided that they had a queerplatonic relationship of sorts. Basically, flirting, touching, and dick in the ass jokes were all welcome and consensual, but there was no sexual component to any of it. Moreover, truth be told, Arin was completely ok with that. Dan was his best friend, and he was allowed to cuddle with him and grab his ass whenever he wanted. The only thing they didn't do was make out or have sex. Since finding a partner willing to sleep with him had never been an issue, Arin felt he had no room to complain. Truthfully he rarely thought about what, in his private opinion, might be...not lacking, but maybe what could be added to enhance their relationship. 

 

When Arin realized his thoughts had wandered back to that day, he snapped himself back to the present. There was no point in thinking about any of that. Things were great, and life was good. There was no point in Arin making himself broody over nothing. Nothing at all.


End file.
